COTTON CULTURE. 131 



peroha rollers, of about the size of those used in clothes 

 wringers, might be found effective and durable. 



.V Mr. L. S. Chichester has produced a machine which 

 is said to be entirely successful in its operation on Sea 

 Island cotton. The lint passes between two rollers, one 

 fluted, made of polished steel, an inch and a quarter in 

 diameter ; the other of vulcanized rubber, twice as large, 

 while a plate of iron, vibrating in front of the rollers, rips 

 out the seeds as the cotton is drawn through. It is stated 

 that it cleans three hundred pounds a day without crush- 

 ing any of the seed. 



The machine, in common use, is set in motion by the 

 foot of the operator acting upon the treadle, and the cot- 

 ton is fed between the rollers by hand, the lint passing 

 through, and the seeds being retained. The operation is 

 slow, as compared with the process of Whitney's gin. 

 Thirty or forty pounds a day is the extent that can be 

 ginned on one of these little machines, whereas a good 

 eighty-saw Whitney gin will, in the same time, turn off 

 thirty-two hundred pounds. "No other satisfactory mode 

 of propelling these gins has ever been discovered, though 

 much money and ingenuity have been employed in the 

 endeavor to apply horse and steam power to the operation 

 of ginning Sea Island cotton. 



From the gins the cotton passes to the mote-table, 

 where a careful and experienced operative examines it 

 minutely, picking out every little mote and stained lock. 

 The operation can proceed as fast as two gins can supply 

 the material. From the mote-table it goes through the 

 hands of a general superintendent, and then to the packer. 



This kind of cotton is seldom pressed in the ordinary 

 square bale, the purchasers preferring that packed by 

 hand. The operation of hand-packing, as it is called, is 

 performed by serving the open end of a strong bag over a 

 hoop, and suspending it through a hole in the floor. The 

 cotton is thrown into the bag, and the packer stands with 



